Auditor Profile

During her employment at AIB, Stephanie Lopez has worn many hats: Food Safety Auditor, HACCP Coordinator, author, presenter and, most recently, Director of Food Safety Education. It’s safe to say that while she was studying microbiology in college, she never expected her career would evolve to where it is today.

Stephanie received a degree in Cell and Molecular Biology from California State University Northridge in 1991. Since then, she has continued to learn and expand her library of knowledge. The most relevant education she has received has been from her experience at AIB, she says, explaining, “The training and experience I have received as an employee and, at times, as a client, are truly invaluable.”

Stephanie has spent 17 years working in the food industry. Her first position was with Elite Spice, Inc. in Sparks, Nev., in 1993. She was hired as a QC Technician to conduct the micro analyses for the plant. “Elite was a smaller company, which afforded me the opportunity to learn about the various roles in a food manufacturing operation,” Stephanie says. She eventually shared responsibility for the Product Development and QC departments.

After seven years with Elite she decided to try something new. “I was fortunate that my timing for change coincided with AIB’s need for a Food Safety Auditor in the Northern Nevada/ Northern California region,” she said. Hired in June 2000, Stephanie began with an eight-week Auditor Training Program. “The training I was provided with was extremely impressive. I was amazed by the variety of processes that we [AIB] work with,” she said.

After about a year as a Food Safety Auditor, there was an opportunity in the Food Safety Education Department to assist with training, specifically in HACCP. It didn’t take long for Dr. Cliff Pappas, Head of HACCP and Quality Systems at AIB, to become her mentor. Under Cliff’s direction, Stephanie’s HACCP and teaching skills were honed. She became the HACCP Coordinator for AIB, conducting training and HACCP Accreditation Audits, covering 10 countries. “I absolutely loved the work and appreciated the opportunity to visit interesting corners of the world including India and Ukraine,” she said.

In 2006, Stephanie tired of travel and opted for local positions in the food industry. Between the summers of 2006 and 2010, she held positions as Quality and Sanitation Manager at Kerry Food and Beverage (Seattle) and as Total Quality Manager at Mission Foods (Fife).

This past summer, Stephanie returned to AIB as Director, Food Safety Education. Much of her current focus is on providing training and consulting to plants that are on the path to GFSI certification. She is also heavily involved in product development, such as course revisions and training material development.

Stephanie is also a certified HACCP Auditor through ASQ (American Society for Quality) and an accredited Lead Instructor for Introductory and Advanced HACCP through the International HACCP Alliance.

She often uses one of her most memorable experiences as a lesson on employee training on auditor/inspector visits: “I was conducting a food safety audit at a distribution center, accompanied by senior management. We were approached by an employee on his forklift. In attempt to be very helpful, he advised me where I would find the rodent infestation! Apparently, the employee thought I was from the pest control company and he thought he was being helpful. It was such a surprise that I still shake my head at it today!”

The example illustrates how information shared or privileges afforded to visitors can have food safety, legal, and business repercussions.

Stephanie is often asked if documentation really helps food safety. She always answers with a firm yes! “Documentation that reflects actual thought processes and actions is extremely valuable,” she said. “For example, checklists are excellent prompts to ensure that all relevant areas or criteria are covered. We find checklists used for things like pre-operational inspections, new equipment review, and new product introductions. If the evaluations are not actually done, the paperwork is meaningless. However, like any tool, when used as intended the desired results are attained.

“Many of our records are useful in linking what activities led to positive results and which activities led to negative results. This is vital for continuous improvement,” she added. “If we are not receiving desired results, it is very difficult to identify what root cause needs to change if we don’t have the contributing factors well documented. Contributing factors include things like training, process parameters, and calibrations.”

With all the success Stephanie has had in her career, we see a bright future ahead in her new role as Director of Food Safety Education.

The author is Publications Coordinator, AIB International.